The Palladium Writers

Please note: This list is incomplete, more writers will be added as we move forward.

Carmen Bellaire

An eternal daydreamer and sometimes writer, Carmen Bellaire has always been lost in the worlds of his imagination. When he discovered role-playing games for the first time, it was love at first read. In short order he collected together his brothers and friends, and began to weave them stories of action, adventure and intrigue. Carmen started with the first edition rules of Heroes Unlimited™, as comics were a big draw for him. However, he soon added the original Robotech® RPG, first edition Palladium Fantasy RPG® and The Mechanoids® to his library of Palladium role-playing games.

Carmen ran adventure after lengthy adventure for his buddies, even when they all entered the Canadian Army Reserves together. His collection of Palladium role-playing game products continued to grow and went with him onto GMT (general military training), where he continued to run adventures on base.

In time, Carmen grew up and got married to his high-school sweetheart Christina – who he met in GMT! He drifted through a succession of construction and labor jobs before becoming a professional truck driver. Christina and Carmen had a beautiful daughter, Robyn; bought a house and settled down. But through all of it, he had his role-playing games and imaginary worlds, sometimes writing them down.

For years, some of his players had encouraged Carmen to submit some of his ideas to Palladium. When he finally worked up the nerve he was pleasantly surprised that publisher Kevin Siembieda loved them. When he had the chance to submit some of his ideas for possible publication, Carmen jumped at the opportunity. The next thing Carmen knew, he had written the popular Powers Unlimited™ 1, 2 and 3 sourcebooks for Heroes Unlimited™, the Splicers® RPG, Rifts® Merc Ops, Rifts® Mercenary Sourcebook, and Rifts® Dimension Book™ 8: Naruni™ Wave Two, as well as contributed to a handful of other titles, including Rifts® Ultimate Edition.

Carmen sometimes laments that he has far too many hobbies for his own good, including writing short stories, novels and RPG material; role-playing, miniature wargaming, motorcycling, home renovation, and medieval reenacting (the SCA). Despite his wide range of interests and a family, Carmen continues to find time to work on new books for the various Palladium Books® game lines.

Braden Campbell

Braden Campbell is a classically trained actor and playwright, whose theatrical work has seen him perform not only across Canada, but in England and New York City. Selected theatrical credits include Professor Von Helsing in The Passion of Dracula, King Canutus inEdmund Ironside, Bottome in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Babby Bobby in The Cripple of Innishman, Marc Antony in Julius Caesar, and the title role in Coriolanus. His play, Prime Time, a three-act comedy about the invention of standard time, premiered at the Lindsay Festival of the Arts in 2003. For the past several years, he has also worked as a freelance writer, particularly in the field of role-playing games.

Braden was first introduced to Palladium Books back in 1990. Shortly thereafter, he began running a Rifts® campaign that, in total, lasted nearly a decade. In 2004, he returned once again to his gaming books, with particular attention paid to the Wormwood™ and Phase World® settings. For Palladium, he has written Fleets of the Three Galaxies™, Thundercloud Galaxy™, and two short stories for the Tales of the Chi-Town 'Burbs™ anthology. He is also a contributor to Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms (revised), Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, and The Rifter® #50. His multi-part Wormwood Addenda™ appeared in several issues of The Rifter®, including #42, #44, and #46. He was also the winner of Palladium's "What would I do with two million CCG cards?" competition in 2002.

Braden has written works for Games Workshop's Black Library and has enjoyedWarhammer 40K for nearly a decade, remaining fiercely dedicated to his Dark Eldar. He lives in Milton, Ontario, Canada with his wife and daughter.

Matthew Clements

Matthew Clements is one of the newest members of the team, a former intern, current freelancer and in-house screenwriter for Palladium Books. He has contributed to the upcoming Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, finished one top secret Rifts® World Book and is currently hard at work on two others.

Matthew’s personal projects, mostly screenplays, include science fiction, historical fiction and zombie movies, as well as a novel and video game in development. Matthew graduated from Central Michigan University in 2009 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in History, specializing in the ancient Near East. Before that he was a member and President of the distinguished CAPA theater program while attending Churchill High School in Livonia, MI.

"My influences are Piers Anthony and Michael Crichton; Paul Verhoeven and James Cameron. I believe fiction should be detailed and believable, while still serving as fantasy escapism that takes the audience on a ride through a new and unique setting. It's not easy to do both."

Steven Dawes

In the beginning was Steven, and Steven was with the Dawes, and Steven was a Dawes. The first word he ever spoke was "Quote,” and he expects the last word he'll speak before he dies will be "Unquote.” Excerpts from his life quotations include the following:

Like a lot of gamers, Steven cut his teeth on the Dungeons and Dragons RPG. As a fan of illustrations and comic books, he discovered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® RPG by Palladium Books, and fell for it right away. After playing a few sessions, he decided to purchase his own copy, making it the first role-playing game he would own. While at the hobby store he spotted a copy of the Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG, 1st Edition. As a fan of horror, he recognized Richard Corben's artwork on the cover and was intrigued. While perusing it, the idea of a "Supernatural Horror" themed RPG sparked a wildfire in his imagination. He purchased both books that day and has been a fan since.

Steven has played and Game Mastered many other Palladium role-playing games, including Ninjas & Superspies™, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, Mechanoids®, Dead Reign™ and Rifts®. But regardless of which setting he runs, all of his games have at least a hint of supernatural horror in them somewhere. Since its release in 2005, he has run only Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG, 2nd Edition.

Steven’s freelance work includes blogging and writing reviews for various newsletters and websites as well as several Rifter® articles (one of which was canonized in a Dead Reign™ sourcebook). His future projects for Palladium include both a "victims" and "ghost hunting/ghost story" sourcebook and others for Beyond the Supernatural™, as well as material for Dead Reign™ and Nightbane®.

When not writing, he can be found in school earning a degree in web design or at home taking care of his wife, his daughter and two zany beagles. Hobbies include reading, board games, video games, soundtrack collecting, karaoke, writing reviews, blogging, ghost hunting and being a horror and paranormal enthusiast.

Greg Diaczyk

While this fellow may bear a passing resemblance to Palladium Books’ beloved Rifter® Editor Wayne Smith (The Wayne Clone, 2009 Open House Contest Winner), he is in fact, one of the freelance writers for Palladium Books.

By day, Greg works as a Mechanical Engineer and his career has exposed him to all kinds of projects. Some of the highlights include the development of protection and survivability equipment and features for military vehicles and stealth systems for aircraft and naval applications.

By night, he is a freelance writer for Palladium Books, an avid gamer (both computer and role-playing games) and father of three boys (all of whom are eager to get into Daddy’s gaming) and, apparently, the greatest husband in the world.

At the end of elementary school, Greg was drawn into Choose Your Own Adventure books and role-playing games. The concept of creating your own story drew him and his friends to take a crack at designing their own games (a game they made up as well as one for a school project). He eventually stumbled upon the local hobby store, Fandom II in Ottawa (the capital city of Canada) where he picked up his first Palladium Books products; a copy of Heroes Unlimited™, Revised Edition, Ninjas & Superspies™ and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® & Other Strangeness, Revised Edition. From there, his collection has grown exponentially.

Greg’s favorite game, however, was introduced to him by his close friend and started a long line of adventures and gaming in the world of Rifts®. While many assume the biggest draw to the expansive setting of Rifts® is being able to play anything and everything (and, yes, Greg agrees that this is one of his favorite parts), it was the fantastical explanations of myths and legends as well as bringing them to the forefront of the current game time-line, offering a connection to the past and exploring the ramifications of the revealed mysteries, that set his imagination soaring.

His work has been published in several issues of The Rifter® (#10, 27, 37, 50 and 51), and he pitched in on the editing of Rifts® Dimension Book 14: Thundercloud Galaxy™. Greg continues to explore the realms of science, magic, myths and legends with his upcoming Rifts® titles: Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Underseas 2™, and Rifts® China 3 (all expected to be releases in 2011 and 2012). He is also toying with venturing into the realm of Palladium’s Nightbane®.

Carl Gleba

A long, time Palladium gamer with aspirations to write, Carl Gleba has become one of Palladium Books most prolific freelance writers. He has six published books, one in the pipeline, and contributions in nearly a dozen other Palladium titles.

Carl’s body of work started with Rifts® Dimension Book Six: Three Galaxies™, his first venture at serious writing. What started out to be a submission to The Rifter® turned into an unsolicited manuscript submission given directly to Kevin and (former wife) Maryann Siembieda when Carl first met the Siembiedas at a convention in western New York. Carl's next book was Rifts® Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder™, an ambitious adventure sourcebook with rules for creating your own corner of the Megaverse®. His most ambitious project, however, is the five book Minion War™ crossover series (Hades, Dyval™, Dimensional Outbreak™, Armageddon Unlimited™ and Megaverse® in Flames).

The Minion War is an elaborate metaplot involving a war between the minions of two rival planes of Hell that spills across the Megaverse. It has plots and connections to the worlds of Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Phase World®, the Three Galaxies™ and Rifts®. Best of all, each book in the series can be used as a stand-alone sourcebook or as part of the sprawling Minion War. The final book in the series, Megaverse® in Flames, should be released Summer 2011.

Carl is currently developing a PDF Game Master Package and a Rifts® Primer to help people run games. His other projects are top secret, for the moment.

Carl's introduction to role-playing was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in the early 1980s. Then he discovered Palladium's Robotech® RPG and was hooked. He’s Game Mastered and played numerous Palladium game settings with Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy® being his two all-time favorites. Carl is a role-player who continues to game on a regular basis with the same group of friends for the last 20 years. Most of the time he is the Game Master, and it is this experience and keen sense of storytelling that has made him a skilled writer of sourcebooks. When Carl is a player, he prefers to play magic users above all other classes, although he does tend to mix it up for variety.

A big science fiction fan, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Star Trek (in all its incarnations) is its among his favorite TV shows and movies, followed by shows like Sliders, Star Wars (the various movies), Doctor Who, Quantum Leap and Fringe. Carl's other hobbies include taking care of the family dog and being a "do-it-yourselfer" when it comes to home improvements. His future ambitions include writing more Rifts® Dimension Books, assisting in the writing of Mechanoids® Space and helping Palladium Books wherever and whenever necessary. Carl and his wife Lisa live in central New York. He is employed by a major New York bank and is a manager of a technical support and development group.

Jeffery Scott Hansen

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Jeffry Scott Hansen's love of books and storytelling was spawned at an early age. In High School his passion for creative writing inspired several short stories that would become his first unpublished work, Unauthorized Realms.

After serving four years in the United States Marine Corps, and while a Detroit Police Officer, Jeffry created Spectre Publishing which produced two books, Warpath and the true crime book, Digging for the Truth: The Final Resting Place of Jimmy Hoffa.

Jeffry's major influences in writing are H.G. Wells, Stephen King, Rod Serling and Edgar Allan Poe. His passion has always leaned toward the Science Fiction/Fantasy genres, which would lead him to publisher Kevin Siembieda of Palladium Books. As a freelancer for Palladium since 2005, Jeffry has been involved in several projects, which include the short story Peddler's End in the Tales from The Chi-Town Burbs anthology, and a contribution to Palladium's The Rifter® about the Nain Rouge.

Accomplishments:

Graduate, Bishop Borgess High School Class of 1990

Served in United States Marine Corps 1991-1995

Honorable Discharge

Good Conduct Medal

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

National Defense Medal

Joint Meritorious Unit Citation Ribbon

Overseas Duty Ribbon w/Star

Letter of Appreciation for Service in Operation Restore Hope, Somalia, Africa

City of Detroit Police Officer, June 1996 - December 1998

Departmental Citation for capture of Bank Robbery suspect

Taylor Police Officer December 1998 - Present

Officer of the Month April 1999

D.A.R.E/G.R.E.A.T Officer, August 2000-2004

Irvin Jackson

Irvin Jackson is a Detroit, Michigan native currently living in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Wayne State University and is a Rosa Parks Scholar.

Before writing for Palladium, Irvin worked as an investigative journalist in Michigan and Washington, D.C. He has been a reporter for The Detroit News, where he helped the paper launch its Livingston County bureau, as well as reporting for the Ann Arbor News and the Port Huron Times Herald. He also reported on environmental policy and politics for Inside Washington Publishers, where he covered legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as U.S. Supreme Court rulings. He is currently a legal news writer for a major Baltimore law firm.

Irvin Jackson co-wrote the Nightbane® Survival Guide™ with Mark Oberle, and also co-wrote the Robotech®: New Generation™ Sourcebook with Kevin Siembieda. In addition, he has written a number of Rifter® articles. He is also an artist with pieces published in The Rifter® and Rifts® Dimension Book 13: Fleets of the Three Galaxies™. He has also done collectible card game art and is slated to have art published in an upcoming erotic fantasy art book highlighting new artists.

He hopes to continue writing both Robotech® and Nightbane® books for Palladium and eventually would like to branch into novel writing and, one day, create a role-playing game of his own.

Irvin is a second-generation gamer and still remembers his mother sitting him on her lap and helping him roll up his first Dungeons and Dragons character. If he's gaming he's most likely the G.M., which has been the case almost non-stop for 22 years. His favorite pen and paper role-playing games are Rifts®, Nightbane®, Robotech®, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® 2nd Edition, Vampire: The Masquerade®, D6 Star Wars® and Mutant Chronicles®. He is also a big fan of RPG videogames such as Mass Effect, Fallout and Elder Scrolls.

Mark Oberle

Mark started out as a fan of Palladium Books back in 1996, playing Rifts® at a friend's birthday party and later at summer camp. In the year 2000, he started a Rifts® campaign that lasted eight years and a Heroes Unlimited™ campaign for three years before going on hiatus. In that time, the most ambitious writing goal he had was to someday be published in The Rifter®. He never really considered himself a "writer," so the road to his first book had a few curves.

The Crisis of Treachery was the catalyst that drew Mark back to a deepened involvement with Palladium Books. For him, like many others, the fight to help Palladium culminated in the 2006 Open House, where he and his future co-writer, Irvin Jackson, would each inquire about writing a book for the Nightbane® RPG line independent of the other.

Five years later, Mark has written material for Nightbane®, Heroes Unlimited™ and Rifts®, as well as Rifter® contributions in issues 39, 43, 44, 48 and 50, as well as the acclaimed short story "Casualties of War" in the Rifts® Tales of the Chi-Town Burbs™ anthology. His highest profile work to date, however, is the co-written Nightbane® Survival Guide™, the direct result of his collaboration with Irvin Jackson.

These days, Mark continues to work on projects for Nightbane® and has plans for a few more collaborations with fellow freelancers. He is also writing a personal (non-Palladium) novel, with two more waiting in the wings to be written. Meanwhile, Mark is dedicated to obtaining his Master's Degree in clinical psychology from Missouri State University, with the ultimate goal of a Doctorate sometime in the future. Of course, he plans to continue his game-writing and looks forward to a bright future for Palladium Books.

John Philpott

Writer, artist, father, engineer, bon vivant, and aficionado of the other-than-normal, John C. Philpott is a man living in perennial fear of a quiet, normal life. Never one to choose the proper course in life, he is a world traveler who enjoys exotic locales, long, barefoot walks on the beach, and saving the Megaverse from supernatural horrors. His travels have seen him launched from an aircraft carrier, drunk with the Brits in Switzerland, loafing on a remote beach in the Tortugas, and kicked back watching the powder-blue Alaskan tide roll slowly in.

Born in Texas, but living in Virginia, John has served in the Air Force as a fighter technician, suffered through an Electrical Engineering degree, and worked as a government cubicle drone in Washington, D.C. Most importantly, John has recently celebrated the second birthday of his wonderful, precocious son; the latest milestone and his greatest adventure to date. John’s life has seen him clash with the unholy forces of self-righteous petty authority and rampant, cancerous bureaucracy and idiocracy, seeing him in a constant quest for contentment and peace of mind amid a world of increasing angst and schadenfreude. He currently resides deep in the wilderness of northeastern Virginia near an old colonial-era town that may in fact be in the nexus of a temporal maelstrom given the frequent appearances of cell phone-using Confederate soldiers on her streets. He shares his sylvan retreat with his lovely wife, his wonderful son, and proud cat, and currently works for the Marine Corps.

His writing has brought to life Voodoo Zombies, Mayan Femmes Fatale, Kung Fu mercenaries, anthropomorphic demon sea lions, and flying boats of unusual size. He has crafted award-winning works on alternate history and journalistic articles for a number of online publications. His works for Palladium Books include the Rifts® Deep South trilogy with Josh Sinsapaugh (Delta Blues™, Deep Woods™, and Rifts® Voodoo and the Spirit World), contributions to D-Bees of North America™, a short story for the Rifts® Tales of the Chi-Town ‘Burbs™ anthology, and several fan-favorite articles for The Rifter®.

Josh Sinsapaugh

Born and raised in New York's Catskill Mountains, Josh Sinsapaugh is the author of Rifts® Shemarrian Nation™ and three yet to be published manuscripts for Rifts® (with co-author Jack Philpott) based in the American Deep South. A frequent contributor to The Rifter® (where he got his start), his work has also appeared in Rifts® D-Bees of North America™ and the short story anthology, Rifts® Tales of the Chi-Town ‘Burbs. Outside of writing for Palladium, Josh's creative works have included poetry, yet more short story writing, and the visual arts of drawing and painting,

Attracted to storytelling at an early age, Josh has been a fan of the craft in all its forms throughout his life. Not only does he enjoy a fine yarn, he also likes tracing how myths, songs, and legends evolve and grow over time as they are passed down through the generations and across cultural boundaries. It is through this love of legends, folklore, and simply telling a good story that he found role-playing games and Palladium Books. Years later, Josh would find game design and world building to be a natural fit as well, culminating in his first Rifter® article in the 30th issue. Since then, the New York native has worked on a myriad of projects for Palladium and continues to dream up new concepts for the company's various game lines.

Josh lives in Saugerties, New York, where he continues his various writing projects for Palladium and an increasing number of clients. An avid music collector and fan, he spends what little spare time he has curating an always growing collection of CDs, MP3s, and a large number of vinyl records as well as GMing games for his group of over ten years. Josh also maintains a twitter feed (@TopoftheEnd) where he tweets about writing, art, and music.

Taylor White

Taylor White keeps himself busy. In 2010, his rock band, The Revenge of Ricky Williams, released an EP titled "Past the Legal Limit,” played a charity event at local hotspot, The Rudyard Kipling, and played at the popular Annual Kentuckiana Pride Festival. For 2011, he is now poised to bow with his new and exciting musical project. Aside from writing for Palladium Books, he also writes, produces, and directs short films, does graphic design work, parties all the time, and makes trouble for the squares.

Taylor's credits for Palladium include the following works: Rifts® World Book 29: Madhaven™, Rifts® World Book 30: D-Bees of North America™, Rifts® World Book 31: Triax™ 2, Tales of the Chi-Town Burbs™, a forthcoming Chaos Earth™ book, and The Rifter® #9 1/2, 28, 31, 36, 39 and 50.

Taylor lives in Louisville, KY, but dreams of touring on the open road.

According to Kevin Siembieda, Erick Wujcik is a true game design genius. Erick was the man behind Palladium RPGs and sourcebooks like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® RPG, numerous TMNT sourcebooks, After the Bomb® RPG, Ninjas & Superspies, Mystic China, Rifts® China 1 & 2, Revised RECON® and his own published game, Amber Diceless, among others. He and Kevin Siembieda have been close friends since 1979 when they met through a role-playing group and soon after helped found the Detroit Gaming Center. Sadly, Erick passed away on June 7, 2008, from complications related to pancratic and liver cancer. The website dedicate to Erick Wujcik can be found at [here].